Associations of blood biomarkers with arterial stiffness in patients with diabetes mellitus: A population‐based study

BACKGROUND: Arterial stiffness contributes to additional cardiovascular risks in diabetic patients by triggering the loss of vascular and myocardial compliance and promoting endothelial dysfunction. Thus, prevention of arterial stiffness is a public health priority, and the identification of potential biomarkers may provide benefits for early prevention. This study investigates the relationships between serum laboratory tests and pulse wave velocity (PWV) tests. We also investigated the associations between PWV and all‐cause mortality. METHODS: We examined a panel of 33 blood biomarkers among diabetic populations in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. The carotid‐femoral (cfPWV) and femoral‐ankle PWV (faPWV) were measured using an automated cardiovascular screening device. The aortic‐femoral arterial stiffness gradient (afSG) was calculated as faPWV divided by cfPWV. Biomarker levels were log‐transformed and correlated with PWV. Cox proportional hazard models were employed for survival analysis. RESULTS: Among 1079 diabetic patients, biomarkers including high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, glycated hemoglobin, high‐sensitivity troponin T, cystatin C, creatinine, and albuminuria were significantly correlated with afSG (R = 0.078, −0.193, −0.155, −0.153, −0.116, and −0.137, respectively) and cfPWV (R = −0.068, 0.175, 0.128, 0.066, 0.202, and 0.062, respectively). Compared with the lowest tertile of afSG, the risk of all‐cause mortality was lower in the highest tertile (hazard ratio 0.543; 95% confidence interval 0.328–0.900). CONCLUSION: Certain biomarkers related to blood glucose monitoring, myocardial injury, and renal function significantly correlated with PWV, suggesting that these putative risk factors are likely to be important atherosclerosis mechanisms in diabetic patients. AfSG may be an independent predictor of mortality among diabetic populations.